


My Attempt To Improve The Life Of Vicki Donovan

by Abbie_Blizzard



Category: The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Ghosts, Magic, Magical Artifacts, Mystic Falls (Vampire Diaries), Psychological Drama, Self-Insert, Teen Angst, Vampires, Werewolves, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:41:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23409217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abbie_Blizzard/pseuds/Abbie_Blizzard
Summary: Waking up as Vicki during transition was not something I planned on doing. Nor did I plan on getting sucked into the TVD plot against my will. *Sigh* May as well make the most of it and try to save as many lives as possible, including my own/Vicki's! Surviving in a world with Vampires, Witches, Werewolves, Doppelgangers and Hybrids is way harder than I thought... HELP!
Comments: 15
Kudos: 84





	1. Waking Up Confused

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my very first Self-Insert fic! No Beta. I've been sitting on this idea for a while now and thought it was high time I wrote it down and unleashed it on the world. Don't worry, I'm still working on my other stories (If very slowly) So, expect to see either them or this story added to in the future. :)
> 
> I tried to make this SI story as realistic as possible and explore the intricacies of what it would really be like to suddenly show up in a fictional world and take over someone else's body.
> 
> So, give me your thoughts on how you think I'm doing so far ;)
> 
> DISCLAIMER: Julie Plec owns all of TVD, TO and Legacies... I'm just borrowing her world cuz it's amazing.

Waking up in Vicki Donovan’s body during transition was not something I could have ever seen coming. Actually, going to sleep and waking up in anyone else’s body, let alone a fictional one on death’s door, was not something I could have predicted happening at all…

It simply wasn’t possible, the very idea of it happening broke the laws of physics!

And yet, as my eyes adjusted and my head rolled to the side, I came face to face with the wooden panelling of _the_ Stefan Salvatore’s bedroom floor and _the_ Vicki Donovan’s discarded clothes lay scattered about, as irrefutable evidence to the contrary.

Somehow, I had managed to land myself smack bang in the middle of season one, episode six of The Vampire Diaries!?!

Now that then begged the question… How???

Had I died in my sleep and been reincarnated? Had I switched bodies with the real Vicki Donovan? No, no… there was no _real_ ‘Vicki’ because she was a fictional character! This all had to be some highly realistic lucid dream my mind had conjured up after watching the season two midway-finale of Legacies, right? RIGHT?!

Because if it wasn’t a dream… I. WAS. SCREWED.

Victoria Donovan was NOT a character I liked, let alone wanted to be.

I mean, if I had to be anyone in the teenage soap opera, I would have preferred to be Bonnie Bennett, the badass witch. Or Caroline Forbes, the sassy and confident vampire.

HECK! Even Elena Gilbert with her never-ending funeral of a life was a better pick than the crack-head slut, soon-to-be-dead-dead Vicki.

The girl just had death flags for days!

Her alcoholic mother spent the majority of her time either hung-over on the couch or at Virginia Beach with her truck-driving boyfriend, Pete. While her gambling father had abandoned her at age three to move to Texas and start up a mechanic shop for a quote, “fresh start”.

She was bullied at school for being poor, constantly failed her classes and was shunned by the other girls for being pretty. She had a low self-esteem, a drug addiction, two rebounding boyfriends and a severe bout of depression that no amount of counselling could fix.

The girl had probably died inside years ago and only been forced to stick around so she could full-fill her role as the narrative plot device that gave deuteragonists’ Matt Donovan and Jeremy Gilbert character arcs.

In short, her life sucked and her death hadn’t been any better.

From what I could recall, Vicki went on to leave the Salvatore Mansion, have a spectacular meltdown at the Gilbert’s house, run away to the Salvatore Crypt, feed on Logan Fell, become a Vampire, get locked up in the Salvatore Mansion (Again), escape to her house, go to the Halloween party at school and attack Jeremy.

THEN, get literally stabbed in the back by ‘Im a saint’ Stefan, trapping her on The Other Side, then Hell, only to finally find peace at the end of season eight.

Meaning (whether this was a dream or not) I now had a tricky dilemma on my hands.

Did I either:

A- Let Vicki die now by not fully transitioning.

B- Follow along with the show’s plot and let her die at the party.

Or, C- Find a way to save her. (From Vampirism or death in general, I wasn’t sure)

Neither option was great, let’s be honest. But, lying on the floor half-naked and staring up that smug son of a bitch, Damon…

I realised that poor ole Victoria deserved better than what she got.

The writers were dicks for giving her such a terrible fate and as I had the unwanted power to do something about it, I owed it to justice to fix it!

This was my lucid dream and I was gonna do what I wanted.

So, having made up my mind to spend my next twenty-four-hours saving Vicki, I focused on dragging her heavy limbs off the ground and collapsing into Stefan’s desk chair.

I took a moment to inspect my ‘new’ body, running my hands over my tanned thighs and knees. Followed by clenching and unclenching my toes and fingers, rolling my shoulders and neck back and forth and taking long deep breaths.

After a couple of minutes, I’m sad to say that everything still felt weird.

The room was swimming before my eyes and my head was pounding. But, the tingling in my veins and the newfound strength in my muscles felt oddly exhilarating. It was as if at any moment I could sprout wings and fly or keel over and vomit?!

CHOOSING to ignore that for now, I decided to focus on sticking with the script.

Hopefully, if I went word for word, my literal murderer wouldn’t notice I’d just high-jacked his plaything’s body and escape the house. (Fingers crossed!!!)

Immediately, I tried slurring out a confused, “What happened?” and had to do a double-take.

Actress Kelly Ewell’s voice had spoken… as in, I had used her voice… even though my thoughts were in my own voice?

Yikes! That was gonna take some time to get used too.

Anyway, Damon interrupted my train of thought by declaring, “I killed you,” nonchalantly.

I pretend to look shocked and mumbled out a relatively convincing, “Whaaat?”

“You’re dead,” He elaborated.

Internally I rolled my eyes at the pompous git. Outwardly, I repeated his words back to him and added an extra baffled, “How?” for good measure.

“Yeaaaa, let’s not make a big deal out of it,” He shrugged, walking over to the bed and perching on the edge. “You drank my blood, I killed you and now you have to feed in order to complete the process.”

Well, he certainly wasn’t earning any brownie points with that explanation.

Not only had he breezed by the fact I was currently inhabiting a DEAD BODY! He conveniently skipped out the part where one had to drink _human_ blood within twenty-four hours of waking up or one would find themselves permanently dead.

Actually, now that I think about it, had the Salvatore seriously believed Vicki would jump straight to cannibalism as her saving grace? Because I certainly wouldn’t have if I didn’t know this was a show about goddamn VAMPIRES!!!

Swallowing back my righteous rage (a truly herculean effort, by the way) I went about ignoring Damon and instead concentrated on getting dressed.

Fortunately, Vicki’s leather vest hung off the back of my chair. Meaning all I had to do was slip my arms though, right arm/ right hole to left arm/ left hole.

Unfortunately, seeing with transitioning eyes that were hazed by who knows how many drugs, was near impossible. The four buttons switched from eight to ten to three, and back again… only zigzagged?

“Screw this,” I huffed. Pants were more important than a done-up vest anyway.

Stumbling over to my jeans, I was suddenly struck by how surreal it was not seeing Damon through my laptop. From my now real-world perspective, he looked more like an arrogant jerk on steroids. Rather than the hot teenage idol, he was supposed to be.

Tripping over my jeans like an idiot, I promptly fell on my knees and began coordinating right leg/right hole, left leg/ left hole, taking a small eternity to do so.

All the while, Damon watched…

UGH! How did he manage to redeem himself again?

Finally zipping up my fly, I forced myself to stand up straight. Only to over-balance and crash into the bedpost hip first.

“You don’t wanna be out there all alone,” The jackass said, vamping in front of me, “You’re about to get reeealy freaky.”

I raised my chin and faced him head-on.

Up close and personal, I noticed that Ian Sommerholder really did have blue eyes that seemed to swirl like a mesmerizing whirlpool. His chiselled jaw, smooth skin, and casually coiffed black curls truly were perfect in that way only Greek Gods had any right to be.

Said chick-magnet flashed me his trademark grin and revelled his set of FANGS!?

Okay, you know what? Never. Mind.

I had a character to save and one DEAD, pretty boy wasn’t going to distract me, damn it!

“Look,” I put my hands on my hips and attempted to sound as bratty as possible, “I had a really good time but I just wanna go home.”

Predictably ignoring my words, _Damon_ (not Ian) cocked his head to the side and mock chided, “You’re gonna start craving blood and until you get it, you’re gonna be very out of it, you have to be careful.”

YEAH RIGHT!!!

Because rolling around on the floor of a vampire’s house was sooo much safer.

Straightening my shoulders, I flicked Vik’s caramel brown hair out of my eyes and gave Damon an almighty shove, growling, “Come on, move!”

It didn’t do much, as I’m-the-bad-brother-Salvatore’s vampire strength far outclassed mine. But it did have the desired effect of getting him to step aside. (Without a sliver of hesitation, might I add)

I rolled my eyes.

Sticking to the script was becoming more annoying than it was worth, this scene was only supposed to last two minutes, tops. Instead, it felt like it could go on foreeever!!!

My legs took two steady steps towards the door when they suddenly tripped on air and I fell flat on my face.

“See?” The jackass sing-songed, “You’re already starting to fall apart!”

ARGH! Why did body-swapping have to be so hard? The Travellers did it all the time and they made it look like a walk in the park. Not the blind-folded tightrope act I was suffering through!!!

Rolling onto my back, I glared spitefully at the Vampire. “Oh yeah?” I snapped, “To bad! I’m going home now.”

“Okay, fine, just warning you…” He said, backing off.

This time I didn’t even bother to stand up, knowing I’d just end up on the floor again. So, I army-crawled across the floorboards, ignoring how lame this probably looked, until my face was directly in front of the first step.

I took one look down and gulped.

It hadn’t occurred to me till right this second that Stefan’s room was in the attic. Meaning there were three flights of stairs leading to the ground floor, where my gate to freedom lay.

For any normal person, going down the stairs would be no problem, a no brainer really.

But not me.

HOW on EARTH was I supposed to waltz down THREE FLIGHTS of stairs without tripping???

It was a small miracle the ‘real’ Vicki had managed it in the first place. One glance down and my stomach threatened to crawl up my throat and slap me across the face!

“Actually,” Damon said, oblivious to my inner turmoil, “You know what? You _should_ go… In fact, if I were you, I would stop by my boyfriend Jeremy’s house.”

“Whatever,” I scoffed.

There was no way in hell I was going to follow the plot and have a meltdown at the Gilberts. That would only lead to the original timeline continuing and that was NOT something I could let happen while on my watch!

My eyes swept the walls for a handhold as the rest of my body went about getting to my hands and knees. I heard Damon say, “And tell Elena I said, ‘Hi’” as my eyes spotted a conveniently placed handrail on the right wall.

Naturally, I latched on for dear life and began to slowly shuffle down the steps, one by one.

**_Right foot… left foot… right foot… left foot…_ **

So far so good.

“And tell Stefan to call me if you see him!” The vampire added.

I shook my head at his request. Not even the original Vicki had done that so why would I?

**_Right foot… left foot…_ **

Calling the Salvatore Doppelganger would only lead to me ending up trapped in the Salvatore mansion even faster than last time. The ripper/vegetarian just wouldn’t be able to help himself; he would see the transitioning human for the tragedy it was and then go out of his way to prevent her from turning into a, quote, “Vampire with issues.”

**_Right foot… left foot… right foot… left foot…_ **

After all, all he cared about at this point was protecting Elena from the ‘dark side’ of Vampirism. (A.K.A Rippers like himself… the hypocrite!)

**_Right foot… left foot…_ **

I guess I couldn’t exactly blame Stefan though, no matter how much I wanted too.

During episode six, there was an ongoing town investigation underway for the deaths of the Stoner Crew. Which, if you’ve forgotten, had been drained of blood and burnt to a crisp by Damon twelve hours earlier.

**_Right foot… left foot…_ **

Stefan was busy recounting his backstory to a newly introduced to the supernatural Elena right now. While the Town Council were busy digging up the Gilbert Compass and sending their newbie hunter, Logan Fell on a search for the town’s ‘new’ vampire.

**_Right foot… left foot… right foot… left foot…_ **

My feet hit the landing of the second set of stairs and I smiled.

One down, two more to go!

**_Left foot… right foot… left foot… right foot…_ **

As I continued my tedious trek down the stairs, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

Vicki had served as the show’s first glimpse at the Human-Vampire process.

Of course, the soap opera would go on to show many human-too-vampire transitions. But up until this point, the two species were mutually exclusive, with the whole ‘How does one become a vampire?’ question still a mystery.

**_Left foot… right foot…_ **

Oh well, I guess I could let the use and abusive of Vicki’s character slide this once. After all, it’s not like I was going to let her be used again, so one more time couldn’t hurt.

**_Left foot… right foot… Left foot… right foot…_ **

Wait. A. Minute.

What was I planning to do once outside???

Did I want to become a vampire? Or, did I want to use my knowledge of the future to turn back into a human?? Which one was going to be better for me in the long run???

(Assuming this wasn’t a dream and I didn’t wake up in the next twenty-four-hours)

**_Left foot… right foot…_ **

On the one hand, as a Vampire, I would have a constant craving for blood, something that would most likely be heightened for me as Ms Donovan had been addicted to drugs and suffered from a compulsive personality.

Not to mention the small fact that the sun could turn me to ashes, vervain acted like corrosive acid and my emotions would be ‘heightened’ (Meaning they would feel like bloody mood swings and cause a drastic personality change)

However, I would also have a strong sense of smell, taste, hearing and touch. My body would have super strength, speed, agility and healing. Plus, I would never age and be able to use compulsion, as well have the ability to heal humans with my blood and read minds.

**_Left foot… right foot… left foot… right foot…_ **

That would all be helpful if I planned on surviving encounters with Witches, Werewolves, Originals, Hybrids and who knows what else.

But could I handle the changes?

I was the type of girl who buried her emotions and suffered from anxiety because of it. When I was sixteen, I’d been diagnosed with PTSD and had taken to medication in order to control my panic attacks and insomnia ever since.

Would I be able to live with all that buried trauma and emotion coming out without going, Ripper???

I just didn’t know and that terrified me…

**_Left foot… right foot…_ **

On the other hand, if I wanted to remain human then I would _have_ to use my knowledge of the future and convince a powerful witch to perform some kind of necromancy spell.

That in itself had its own challenges.

The only witches in Mystic Falls during season one were Bonnie and Sheila Bennett. The former of which was just a rookie still struggling to float feathers and the latter being a devoted servant of nature’s balance bullshit.

Meaning neither would want nor be able to help me.

**_Left foot… right foot…_ **

Then again, Vicki’s long lost ancestor, Ethan Maxwell had been friends with Beatrice Bennett. The witch who had created the Maxwell Hell Bell, trapped the Sirens in The Armory and prevented Hellfire from destroying Mystic Falls in 1790.

Perhaps she could be persuaded to bring back Maxwell’s only living female descendent to the land of the living?

**_Left foot… right foot… left foot… right foot…_ **

I snickered at the thought.

Not only would I have to find a way to speak with the Bennett’s ancestors, but I would also need to do so within TWENTY-FOUR-HOURS! Which, judging by the rate I was shuffling down the Salvatore’s steps, was not going to be anywhere near long enough.

Nope, using witchy Joo Joo to be resurrected as a human wasn’t going to happen.

**_Left foot… right foot…_ **

That left me with my final choice… Death.

A small shudder ran down my spine as I reached the second landing. Letting Vicki die by not transitioning wasn’t what I wanted to do. The whole idea reeked of injustice!

It simply wouldn’t be fair to let her die forgotten and trapped as a ghost on the other side.

**_Left foot… right foot… Left foot… right foot…_ **

No, no, I was keeping myself alive for Vik’s sake even if it’s the last thing I do.

If that meant I would have to become a vampire and suffer from heightened emotions, so be it!!!

**_Left foot… right foot… Left foot…_ **

FINALLY, my legs stepped off the last step and I found myself, once again, taken aback. Like many fans, I had seen the first-floor corridor hundreds of times in the show.

But I’d never noticed the giant china vase hidden in the corner before. Or taken note of the numerous antique paintings hanging in ornate golden frames on the walls.

And where had all the mantels come from?

Everywhere the eye could see, there was a wooden mantel pushed against a vertical surface, weighed down by painted plates, lamps, pictures and preserved letters.

“Wow,” My jaw dropped in disbelief.

I knew that the Salvatore’s were vampires from the eighteen-hundreds, but seriously?

The sheer amount of clutter in their house was too much, even by hoarder standards!

Blinking away the shock, I promptly went about grabbing onto any flat surface and wobbling my way down the hall and around the corner. I was rewarded for my struggles with the most blessed sight of all times…

The front door.

Ignoring the _three_ ancient paintings on the wall and _another_ stray mantel, a wonderous choir of angles sang an angelic “Hallelujah!” as my hands curled around the handle.

Not wasting a second to think, I swung the door open

“HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!!” I cried and slammed the door shut.

One glimpse at the sun and it had felt like my eyeballs were sizzling in their sockets!!!

How could I have forgotten that sunshine hurt soon-to-be-vampires!? It was like the golden rule of transitioning, followed right next to the silver rule ‘Stay Somewhere Dark’.

“Damn it!” I huffed, mentally stomping my foot.

How on earth had Vicki managed to be outside while the sun shoved WHITE HOT POKERS INTO HER EYES!? Because unless she kept her eyelids closed and ran blindly to the gilberts, there was no way she could have survived the agony!!

… but she had, hadn’t she?

From what my mind could recall; Miss Donovan had shown up at Jeremy’s wearing sunglasses, having seemingly acquired them off-screen somewhere.

At the time, I had assumed the writers had just written themselves an error but that couldn’t be the case now.

This was (Impossibly) a real world.

Meaning a simple props error could not explain away why a character had a thing in one scene only to not have it in the next. Meaning Vik had gotten her shades from somewhere between the Salvatore Mansion and the Gilberts.

There was hope for me still!

My eyes quickly went about scanning the entryway and immediately zoned in on the mantel’s three draws. The first held nothing but letters, all yellowing and rotten. The second was full of keys and the occasional thumbtack. While the third held a couple of picture frames, an old-fashioned letter opener and one pair of black sunglasses.

“Bingo!” A goofy grin spread across my lips as I slipped them on, “Alright sun, here I come!”

Opening the door with confidence, I strode out of the house and into freedom.

At least, I would have if my body didn’t insist on walking like an unstable toddler. My bare feet had barely stepped out the door when they tripped on the welcome mat and I dropped to my hands and knees, scraping them as they went.

A frustrated growl rose from my chest.

I had completed my first few goals of getting away from Damon, not tripping down the stairs, finding a pair of sunglasses and getting outside the Mansion.

So, WHY did walking down the driveway have to be such a MISSION?!

It was supposed to be a no-brainer, especially if I was dreaming.

But it wasn’t and I hated it. (With a passion)

“Get your act together,” I said, planting my feet on the gravel and sticking my butt into the air, “You can do this.”

I took a deep breath, prayed a silent prayer to God and rose from the waist. As soon as my head was in line with my spine, my arms shot out for balance and my muscles tensed.

_… 30 seconds… 60 seconds… 90 seconds…_

Putting one foot in front of the other, I was careful not to lose my balance and started walking down the drive. My legs were wobbling, my head ached and my vision still swam, but I was determined to stay upright without support.

_Two minutes… Three minutes… Four minutes…_

Five minutes passed, my feet hit the footpath and I tripped AGAIN!!!

However, instead of faceplanting or dropping to my hands and knees, one of my feet shot in front of me and I caught myself mid-fall. I let out a breath I hadn’t known I was holding as a triumphant smile lit up my face and my heart leapt for joy.

I HAD DONE IT!

Me, the clumsiest Clutts to ever exist, had walked down the driveway all by myself!!!

“Ha-ha!” I cheered, “Take that dream!”

(I was finally getting the hang of this body swap thing)

Now, first things first, where was a good place to complete the transition?

Obviously, there was the tried and true method of waiting till dark, going up to a stranger and biting them. But that would require a lot of waiting time and afterwards, I would be bound by night hours until I got a daylight ring.

Or there was the Caroline method, going to the hospital and drinking from a blood bag.

That way was safer, although not by much. I wouldn’t have to wait for sundown but I would be at risk of accidentally cremating myself in the sunlight. That meant I would have to be confined to the hospital building until nightfall.

Taking a moment to sit on the curb, I weighed up the pros and cons.

Way number one:

 _Pro-_ I would stay hidden from the cops and the scooby gang.

 _Con-_ There was a higher chance of accidental death for the person I fed on and getting found by a wandering Logan Fell.

Way number two:

 _Pro-_ Everyone would know where I was and I wouldn’t have to feed on a person.

 _Con-_ I would have to be careful not to accidentally cremate myself in the sun and not let anyone know I wasn’t the ‘real’ Vicki Donovan.

Huh… In both options, the cons outweighed the pros, 2-1

This was turning out to be surprisingly more complicated than I thought…

Okay, okay, back to business.

What were my Don’ts, Do’s and Needs?

I didn’t want to become a murderer and I didn’t want to be kidnapped by the Salvatore brothers for my ‘own good’ or continue the plot. I did want to clear Vick’s name of the cops’ suspect list and I did want to become a vampire safely. I would need a daylight amulet to masquerade as a human and I would need to come up with a way to hide my true identity and keep my knowledge of the future hidden.

Sooo…

Pretend to be a Traveller/Passenger? Pretend to be a seer/witch/ghost who used magic to possess Vick’s body from the other side??

Mabey I could pretend to have had visions of my ancestor, Ethan Maxwell sent by Beatrice Bennett because I’m a Maxwell descendent and lost my memories that way in order to make room for the new ones???

Hahaha, no.

Sure, each one was plausible in the world of the Vampire Diaries but they were too far-fetched for the gang of Season One. They would most likely just kill me before I became another threat to their precious ‘secret’.

“…”

I guess I could always go with amnesia, pretend I have no idea who or where I am, what is going on or how I got here. It’s not like I would be lying either, just stretching the truth to suit my needs. (Mainly preventing Vicki from getting staked)

No one would be able to question my sudden personality change or weird quirks. The cops wouldn’t be able to pin the junkie’s murders on me, I’d have an excuse to not got to school or be out during the day and I wouldn’t have to explain away my lack of knowledge about the town and Vicki’s past relationships.

You know what? Yes.

Playing the vampire amnesiac was my best survival option.

Nodding my head, I pushed myself to my feet and began Operation: Transition.


	2. The Sun Sucks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who is following this story and leaving me Kudos!!! It honestly makes my day that others enjoy my work as much as I do :) 
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing, it's all Julie Plecs.

I hit my first roadblock as soon as I stood up.  
It hadn’t really occurred to me until that moment that I didn’t know where anything in this world actually was. I mean sure, every Vampire Diaries Fan knew what the characters houses looked like, plus the School, Woods, Cemetery, Mystic Grill and Town Square.   
But not where they were in relation to one another.   
All the moving around happened off-screen, after all.  
This was great for a TV show with twenty-four episodes per season (on average?) Each with a limited timeslot. But not so for anyone living in said world as if it was real… LIKE ME!  
ARGH! Why did this dream have to be so hard on me?  
In normal dreams, one just had to imagine their next location and BAM! There you were.  
But not in this one.  
Oh no, this lucid dream was hell-bent on making me travel around as one would in ‘real-life’. Because nothing is ever easy for me, was it?!  
“Haaa…” Closing my eyes, I rubbed my already aching temples and sighed. There was no use crying over spilt milk. I simply needed to come up with a way to get to the hospital without knowing where it was and no map at my disposal.  
(Curse Vicki and her missing phone!)  
So, I really only had three options…  
Number One- Knock on doors and ask for directions.  
Number Two- Ask someone to call an ambulance for me.  
And Number Three- Walk around at random until I found my own way to the Hospital.  
Technically, I could always combine options one and two. All I’d have to do is walk up to the first house that came across my path, politely knock on their door and ask to use their landline (People still used those in 2009, right?)  
Actually, yes, that sounded like an excellent idea. What could possibly go wrong?  
“Okay,” I pushed off the curb and got to my feet, “Here goes nothing!”  
Starting off down the street, away from the dreaded Salvatore Mansion, it took me TEN MINUTES before I came across another house. Because apparently the Salvatore’s lived in the middle of nowhere.  
The house was a boring bungalow, the kind that could pop up anywhere and house a five-person family in relative comfort. I confidently walked up the drive, stepping over the weeds peeking through the cracks and knocked politely on the front door.  
No one answered…  
Huh. Weird.  
I knocked again, calling out, “Hello? Is anybody home? I need help!” with a dash of hysteria in my voice, to really sell the whole ‘I’m a scared amnesiac, please help me!’ act.  
Again, no one answered…  
“Oookaaay,” I muttered, “Guess no one’s home.”   
Admittedly, it was rather unlikely that no one was home during the middle of a weekend but not improbable either. So, without a hint of discouragement, I moved on to the neighbour’s house and repeated the process.   
When that house was empty too, I tried their neighbour… And so, on and so forth until I’d managed to knock my way down the entire street.  
And guess what?  
NO ONE WAS HOME!!!  
That could not be a coincidence, it just couldn’t.  
As far as episode six of season one went, there was no special holiday scheduled or town memorial being celebrated. It was lunchtime on a weekend, for goodness sake. All the kiddies, parents and grandparents should have been at home eating.  
So where was everybody?  
Unless Miss Donovan was seriously unlucky enough to walk down the only abandoned street in Mystic Falls, then someone or something had to be messing with me, right?   
But who were they? What did they want? And why me?  
I didn’t know and I honestly didn’t care.   
Right now, all that mattered was getting to the hospital to finish Operation: Transition, ASAP!  
Following the Left-Right-Left rule, I willed all thoughts of mysterious subterfuge out of my head and I marched around the next corner because I was going to find that hospital even if it killed me.  
Thirty agonisingly slow minutes later, my eyes were watering, my jaw ached and my stomach had shrivelled up like a sundried prune. No cars had driven past, no one had answered their doors and not a single jogger had passed me by. Not a single cat could be found lounging by a window or a stray dog peeing in the bushes.  
Mystic Falls was as empty as a prison world.  
“AHHHHH!!!!!” I stopped in the middle of a four-way intersection and screamed at the top of Vik’s lungs.   
It was official.  
This. Dream. Sucked.   
Unlike other Otaku, I did NOT want to experience the whole, ‘Waking up in a fictional universe in someone else’s body’ thing. It had always been the kind of trope that I’d enjoyed watching when it happened to someone else.   
In the same way that I enjoyed a good prank as long as it wasn’t played on me.  
But now that I was the butt of the joke? no! No!! NO!!!  
I had already decided (Out of the goodness of my heart, btw) to save Vicki Donovan from getting staked in the back and now this universe was going out of its way to prevent me from doing the saviour thing?  
“SCREW YOU!” I screamed, utterly furious, “I am so SICK of this BULLSH*T!!! Wake me up RIGHT NOW or else I’ll… I’ll…”   
I didn’t know what I would do, exactly. But you could beat it would be something big, that’s for sure. If that meant I had to release Arcadius from his hell dimension to wreak hell on earth (No pun intended) then you could bet your ass I would do it!!!  
“Vicki?” A voice suspiciously familiar said.  
Hoping beyond hope that my ears had deceived me I turned around Aaannnddd…   
There stood the Jeremy Gilbert at the edge of The Gilbert’s driveway.  
My whole body froze.  
Nope.  
Nah, ah.  
No. Way.  
This could NOT be happening…. It just COULDN’T…. okay? NO, I refused to believe it… absolutely not…. NEIN, not in a million, billion, trillion years! This could NOT be happening!!!  
And yet it was.  
“…”  
I wanted to cry, I honestly did.  
Against my best efforts to walk around at random, Vicki’s stupid little legs had taken me straight to the ONE HOUSE that I had been trying to AVOID at all costs!  
It was tempting to blame Vik’s body’s lingering muscle memory for this. Except if that were the case, I’d have had a much easier time learning to stand and walk without tripping every five minutes.  
No, this had to be the influence of the mysterious force pushing me to continue the plot, I was sure of it.  
“Vik,” Jeremy said, interrupting my train of thought, “Where have you been?”   
Looking at Steven McQueen… Wait, NO!   
Jeremy Gilbert as he approached, I took in the actor’s dark brown eyes and chocolate brown hair. His very 2009 clothes were stylishly dishevelled in that way that Justin Bieber had popularized eons ago. To me, he looked like he’d just rolled out of bed. But to the girls at school of “today”, he probably screamed ‘Hottie’.  
I opened my mouth to tell him to, ‘sod off!’ as there was NO WAY I was going to go inside and start the next scene when a sudden whiff of his scent floated innocently up my nose.  
My whole body shuddered at his aroma, causing my eyes to tickle and my blood to rush.  
He smelt, to put it simply, absolutely heavenly!!!  
Oh, God! Was it just him or did all humans smell this good?  
It smelled like ambrosia and all my favourite foods and scented candles and perfumes mixed into one tantalising aroma.   
He took a step closer and a jittery thump, thump, thumping sound pulsed like a beat drum from his diaphragm, pumping blood through his veins and arteries. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought the sound was muffled rave music coming from next door.   
But it was Jeremy (not Steven’s) heartbeat… no music, no drums, no steady rhythm… just the natural beating of a human heart… Jeremey gilbert’s heart, to be specific.  
“Wow,” I whispered, “This is insane.”  
“Are you okay?” Little Gilbert asked, now standing directly in front of me.  
I looked into his eyes and saw nothing but silent begging for me/Vicki A.K.A his girlfriend, to come inside, where I’m sure he thought it would be safer.  
Well not today, buster brown!  
If this dream world wanted me to follow the plot so badly then it was going to have to try a lot harder than sending the boy next door to make puppy dog eyes at me.  
Mark. My. Words.  
I was not going inside that house, not now, not EVER!!!  
‘Vicki’ the amnesiac needed to go to the hospital. So, taking a deep breath, I made Vik’s limbs start to shake and leant away from her boyfriend’s touch.  
“Who are you?” I asked, trying to sound panicky, “Where am I? What’s going on!”  
Jeremey stared in utter bewilderment, freezing as the cogs in his brain struggled to turn.  
Naturally, I took advantage of this and pulled away even further, shuffling back an inch or two until his scent grew faint and the rushing in my ears had stopped. I could feel my own dead heart beating rapidly and knew I had to feed soon or risk turning ripper.  
“Are you high?” He eventually asked. As if that was the only explanation for my behaviour.  
“W, what?” I said, “Why would you ask that? Who are you!? Where am I!!”  
‘I’m a concerned boyfriend’ Jeremy moved to lay a hand on my shoulder but I batted it away, yelling, “DON’T TOUCH ME!!!”  
“Okay, okay!” he raised his hands in the universal sign of surrender, “Calm down, I’m not going to touch you, I promise.”  
Naaaw, his voice was so soft and tender (No wonder low-self-esteem-Donovan fell for him)  
“Please Vik, let me help you. Tell me what happened?”  
“I… I don’t know…” I whispered, “Please, you need to help me… I need a doctor.”  
That might have been laying it on a bit thick, but how was I to know? I’d never met a real amnesiac before, this was all guesswork and shameless pretending on my part.  
“Did something happen to you, Vicki?” He urged, “Did someone hurt you?”   
“P, please…,” I said, stuttering to really sell it, “S, somethings wrong with me… I can’t remember anything! Why can’t I remember anything!?”  
Ugh, this was sooo cringy.  
Someone gag over the melodrama for me (Please and Thanks)  
Gilbert nodded along with my words before stepping back, hands still up in surrender. “I’m going to go inside the house now, okay Vik?” He said, voice calm and steady, “I’m going to grab my phone and then I’ll be right back, I promise.”  
This time I nodded and watched in quiet satisfaction as he darted away.  
It turns out Jeremy Gilbert was a right sweetheart, with the good looks to match. Already, I could feel my heart longing to see him again, the way flowers lean towards the sun.  
UGH! What was wrong with me?!  
The love-sick twerp was fifteen years old, five years my junior!!! What on earth was my brain thinking falling for his charm?  
Jeremy had been the reason for Vicki’s loss of control at the Halloween party. If I was ever going to have a chance of surviving past that night, then I needed to stay faaar, far, far away from him.   
For Vik’s sake.  
“Stay away from little gilbert,” I chided myself, “Don’t even touch him.”  
A few moments later, I had just parked my behind on the curb when the cause of Donovan’s demise rushed out of the house. He had a blanket and water bottle in one hand and a cell phone in the other.  
“Here,” He said, handing me the bottle and draping the blanket over my shoulders like a true gentleman, “I thought you might need these.”  
My heart clenched.  
Why did he have to be so kind? It was making hating him harder!  
“Thanks,” I begrudged.  
Sitting down beside me, he pulled his knees up to mirror mine and sat, staring at the unopened water bottle in my hands.   
… 10 seconds… 20 seconds… 30 seconds…  
He obviously wanted me to drink but I was determined to ignore it, just in case my heart soared by accepting his act of kindness.  
…40 seconds… 50 seconds… 60 seconds…  
“Are you going to call an ambulance or not?” I snapped, finally losing my nerve.   
It was uncomfortable under his stare, okay? Don’t judge me.  
“Hm? Oh! Right, sorry,” Jeremy sheepishly said, “But, ah… are you sure? Are you positive you’re not high, Vik?”  
“I, I don’t know…” I said, dropping my forehead against my knees, “I feel sick and I don’t know why… everything just hurts!”  
“What’s the last thing you remember?” He asked.  
I resisted rolling my eyes. I got the feeling we were about to engage in an unwanted game of twenty questions. Hopefully, my improvisation skills were up to snuff.  
“I don’t know,” I groaned, “It’s all blank…”  
“Okay, ummm, where did you wake up and was anyone with you?”  
Two questions in one, aye? Now, that was cheating. But he did prove an important point. What was my cover story about where I woke up and what I did afterwards going to be?  
“Ahhh… the woods?” It came out more like a question than an answer, “I’m not really sure… everything’s all fuzzy and blank.”  
Internally I shook my head at myself. Was that honestly the best I could come up with? Fuzzy and Blank?! Good god, my improv skills were terrible today.  
Gilbert nodded like he understood and waited for me to elaborate.  
I didn’t.  
He sighed, “Is that it? Can you remember anything else, Vik?”  
This interrogation was taking too long, it was time to bring out the big guns.  
“Who is this ‘Vik’!?” I snapped, creasing my eyebrows in faked confusion, “You keep calling me ‘Vik’ or ‘Vicki’ but I don’t know who that is!!”  
Jeremey was stunned.  
His mouth opened and closed like a fish and his eyes grew vacant. The poor thing was speechless, confused and a tad shocked…. Just as planned.  
“Please,” I begged, raising my head and staring imploringly into his eyes, “I need to go to the hospital… S, something’s wrong with me and I… I can’t remember anything!!”  
That did the trick.  
The phone was out and dialling ‘911’ quicker than you could say, “Vampire.”  
“Nine, one, one, what’s your emergency?” The phone operator chimed.  
“Yeah, I ahhh, need an ambulance at 2104 Maple Street,” He said.   
I sat back and waited with a sense of accomplishment as Jeremy explained the situation.  
“My girlfriend just showed up outside my house,” He said, “I think she’s hit her head? She’s confused and can’t remember anything.” There was a pregnant pause before he growled, “She doesn’t even recognize me, let alone her own name!”   
I found it interesting that Jeremey thought my lack of knowledge about his identity more alarming than a lack of my own.   
Like, get your priorities straight, man! How did you think I feel?  
Anyway, at least I now knew exactly where The Gilbert’s house was, 2104 Maple Street. How perfectly American of the show writers. That was like having the last name ‘Smith’, you couldn’t have picked a more boring and forgettable street name if you tried.  
Little Gilbert finally hung up and began to dial in another number.  
“Who are you calling?” I asked, alarmed.   
“Matt,” He said.  
My mind froze, “…Matt?”  
“Yeah, your brother,” He elaborated.  
Oh crap.  
Jeremey was only supposed to call the hospital, not call Vicki’s brother!   
Mathew ‘Matt’ Donovan had shown up last time just before Elena and Stefan had. That meant there was a high chance that by the time dear Matty arrived, the doppelganger couple would show up too.  
When that happened, the plot would continue and Operation: Transition would be finished!  
Gilbert raised the phone up to his ear.  
“WAIT!!!” I cried and lunged. My hands shot out to grab the phone but overbalanced and toppled onto his lap instead, stomach first.  
The phone beeped and a pleasant, “Hello?” rang through the speaker.  
I glanced over my shoulder, lips pressed firmly shut and locked my eyes with Jeremey’s.   
Please hang up, please hang up, PLEASE HANG UP!!!  
“Hello? Jeremy?” Matt said.  
Jeremey gave me a funny look, not getting my silent plea and answered. “Yeah… yeah, it’s me,” He said, “I, ahh… I found Vicki.”  
“WHAT!? WHERE!!!” echoed painfully in my eardrums.  
It felt as if I’d been shouted at via a megaphone, point-blank. My hands flung up to cover my ears at super speed and in their hast, knocked the sunglasses clean off my face.  
“AAAAHHHH!!!!” A blood-curdling scream ripped itself from my lips.  
HOLY MOTHER OF GOD KILL ME NOW!!!  
A white-hot iron poker had just stabbed my eyes.  
My whole body thrashed under the pain and I was thrown out of Jeremy’s lap and into the gutter. I squeezed my eyes shut as tears rolled down my cheeks and curled into a ball. There was a rustling and suddenly little Gil was rubbing my back, voice frantic.   
“W, what’s wrong!?” He cried, “Vicki, can you hear me? What’s wrong!!”  
His voice boomed, ricocheting around my head like a packet of needles. I was sure I could have been standing a mile away and my supernatural hearing would still have heard him.   
Not yet fully transitioned and already vampire hearing was proving to be a hassle.  
“Shhhhh,” I whimpered.  
“What’s wrong?” Jeremey whispered this time.   
“The lights…” I said, “The lights… turn them off.”  
There was another moment of rustling where I could feel him turning side to side. Then, he leant over my head, grabbed something and gently slipped the sunglasses back on my face.  
I sighed as the burning pain vanished instantly.   
Those lucky sunglasses might as well have been my knight in shining armour. Its UV lenses acted as my only shield against the sun’s burning heat. Thank the Lord for small mercies!  
“Thanks,” I breathed, to Jeremey or the sunglasses, I wasn’t sure (Probably both)  
His hip brushed against my knees as he sat down and his scent wafted past my nose AGAIN.   
Except his time, my mouth began to salivate.  
CRAP! CRAP!! CRAP!!!  
The human was becoming more and more tantalizing by the second. Any minute now and I wasn’t going to be able to help myself to a little nip… I would only need one teensy, weensy nibble at his skin and that sweet, sweet ambrosia would be pouring down my throat…  
“NO!” I cried and hastily rolled further onto the road, “STAY AWAY!!!”  
In my haste, I shoved Jeremy aside and he went sprawling across the lawn, five meters from his original spot!?  
My jaw dropped.  
Daaamn, was I strong or what? Vampire super strength was awesome!  
A long, “Owww,” rang out across the clearing and a pinprick of guilt stung my chest. I guess I was gonna have to learn to hold myself back from now on.  
“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!” I said, scrambling to help him up, “Are you okay?”  
Jeremey angrily pushed my hand away. “Yeah, I’m fine! I’m fine!” He grouched, and it suddenly hit me.  
This moment, that action, his response… was it just me or did this all feel kind of… familiar.  
Jeremey pushed himself to his feet and brushed away the dirt and grass, indignant and sheepish.  
Yes, yes this did feel familiar.  
And do you know why?  
BECAUSE VICKI HAD DONE THE EXACT SAME THING TO JEREMEY LAST TIME!!!  
Despite not going inside the house, not raiding their fridge and not following the script, here I was having a sort-of-meltdown in front of Vicki’s boyfriend and pushing him away just like Donovan had done in the scene.  
Somehow, I was STILL following the GOD DAMN PLOT!!!  
“How did you…” Jeremey looked from the road to where we were standing, a good distance between there and here. Confusion and a hint of excited curiosity light up his face, “How did you do that, Vik?”  
“I, I don’t know,” I stuttered, going with my standard excuse.  
HOW was this possible?! What did I have to do to change Vicki’s fate, huh? WHAT!!!  
My breathing was starting to hitch and my fists were getting sweaty, all signs of an in-coming panic attack. I clenched my fists together as the colour drained from my face and took a long, deep breath.  
“I need to sit down,” I whispered, my throat was starting to close up and my vision was swimming ominously, “I think I’m gonna faint…”  
Jeremey immediately burst into action.   
He guided me to the front porch steps and had me sit. I continued to take breaths from the bottom of my diaphragm while he dashed off to grab my discarded blanket and water bottle. A cold sweat broke out over my whole body and I started shaking uncontrollably.   
“You’re okay, everything’s going to be okay,” He said soothingly as he wrapped the blanket back around my shoulders.  
My mind was starting to race, my muscles were aching and I could feel myself start to hyperventilate. Panic attacks were a regular occurrence for me back in the real world, so I wasn’t scared… just terrified I’d pass out!  
“Shhh, deep breaths, Vik, deep breaths,” Jeremey grabbed my sweaty, quivering hands and looked directly into my eyes. “Do what I do. Breath in, one, two, three, four… Breath out, five, six, seven, eight…”  
I wanted to follow along with him, truly I did.  
But hundreds of doomsday scenarios kept flooding my head and my heart and was pounding and this dream sucked and I wanted to WAKE UP NOW PLEASE!!!  
“Come on, you can do this Vik,” Jeremey said, “Just take it one breath at a time.”  
Do it one breath at a time, if only it was that easy. I had thought I was already avoiding the plot by walking around aimlessly towards the hospital and not stepping inside The Gilbert’s house!  
Except, when I took a step back, I had to ask myself what I had actually done that was so different from before.  
I had gone word for word with Damon back in the Salvatore Mansion, I had found the off-screen acquired sunglasses AND I had found my way to The Gilbert’s house.   
Apart from not entering the house and saying what I wanted to Jeremey, I hadn’t done anything that Vicki hadn’t done… I wasn’t taking big enough changes!!  
I had to do something big, drastic, huge even!!!   
But what? WHAT could I DO???  
“Breeeathe, Vicki,” Gilbert urged as my chest began to tighten. When I predictably ignored him, he gripped my face and forcibly turned me to face him, “Breathe with me.”  
Staring into those chocolate doe eyes and hearing the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, I felt my body begin to relax and knew that he was right. Right now, I needed to breathe, nothing else.   
(Plotting could wait till later)  
Breathe in, 1… 2… 3… 4… Breathe out, 5… 6… 7… 8…  
Breathe in, 1… 2… 3… 4… Breathe out, 5… 6… 7… 8…  
“There you go! You’re doing great,” Jeremey praised, “Nice and easy, you’re okay.”  
Breath in, 1… 2… 3… 4… Breath out, 5… 6… 7… 8…  
Breath in, 1… 2… 3… 4… Breath out, 5… 6… 7… 8…  
Breath in, 1… 2… 3… 4… Breath out, 5… 6… 7… 8…  
Within ten minutes, I felt my own heart rate slow and my breathing evened out. I stopped gasping for breath like a drowning man and the tremors softened.  
“Thank you,” I breathed, truly grateful for his assistance this time.  
“Nah, it was nothing,” He dismissed, “I used to have them too.”  
Well, that explained how he knew what to do.  
I wouldn’t wish a panic attack on anybody but I was oddly thankful to Julie Plec for giving the little heartthrob some experience with them.  
He knew exactly what to do and how to support me. If he hadn’t, Matt, Stefan and Elena could have shown up to find me inhibited and whisked me away before the ambulance arrived.  
Speaking of the ambulance, I wiped the crusty tear stains from my face and looked up and down Maple Street. There was no yellow and white van in sight. I couldn’t hear sirens wailing either.  
Hmmm, coincidence? I think not.  
“Here,” Jeremey pushed the opened water bottle into my hands and smiled, “Drink, you’ll feel better, I promise.”  
Promise, promise, promise. Good ol’ Jer made a lot of promises, it seemed.  
“Thanks… but I can’t accept drinks from strangers,” I said cheekily, “I don’t know who you are or what your name is… sorry.”  
To his credit, he had the good sense to look sheepish at my rebuke. “Oh, yeah, my bad,” He mumbled, pulling the drink away. Then seemed to process what I’d said and thought better of it.   
“Wait… what do you mean?” He said, doing a double-take, “You know me, Vicki. It’s me, Jeremey!”  
I gave him my best blank stare, “Jeremey…?”  
“Gilbert! Jeremey Gilbert, you’re boyfriend!? Don’t you remember me?”  
Poor soul, he was going to take this amnesiac thing hard.  
Thankfully, the sound of a distant rumbling saved me from answering. I held a finger against my lips and shushed Jeremey’s incoming questions. I focused all my attention on the strange sound, trying to figure out what it was.  
It sounded like the low growl of a cat mixed with the scraping of metal on metal. It certainly wasn’t a pleasant sound, not like a heartbeat was. But it had its own unique rhythm that felt oddly familiar.  
Perhaps it was an engine? Mabey a car or a bus or a motorcycle?  
Whatever vehicle it was, it was coming from the left side of the street and gaining speed. I had a sinking feeling it wasn’t the ambulance if the lack of emergency sirens was an indication.  
“Someone’s coming,” I said and stood up.   
“W, what?” Jeremey looked left and right, “Where?”  
“There,” I pointed a finger to the left and sure enough, a faded blue truck roared over the horizon. My heart sank, even from way over here, I could tell it was none other than Matt Donovan speeding in our direction.  
This had to be the work of the plot again. There was no way he could have gotten here before the ambulance did otherwise.   
“That’s Matt’s truck!” Jer said, astonished, “How did you know, Vik?”  
“I told you I don’t know, okay?” I huffed.  
“B, but… that should be impossible….”  
Oh good, he was catching on. The sooner Jeremey figured out I was a transitioning vampire, the sooner he would learn to stay away (For his own good, obvs)  
The truck pulled up the driveway and a concerned Matt hopped out. He visibly sagged in relief before making a beeline for us on the porch. His heart was racing and I could practically taste the adrenaline pumping through his veins.  
The first words out of his mouth were, “What’s she on?” and aimed at Jeremey.  
He shook his head, “I, ah, I don’t know.”  
Matt took that as a bad sign and immediately switched his posture to one a zookeeper might use when approaching a cornered animal.   
Which F.Y.I. I thought was a bit overkill. Like come on, what did he think I was going to do? Bite him? Yell, cry and scream at him??  
“Hey, Vik, how’re you doin?” He asked, reaching for the sunglasses.  
It was Do or Die time!  
This could be my moment to do something drastic and alter the plotline for good. Stefan and Elena weren’t here yet and neither were the ambulance medics. All I had to do to complete Operation: Transition would be to convince them to take me to the hospital right now, no questions asked.  
Before all hope was lost.  
Okay, here goes nothing!!!  
“P, please help me… I can’t remember anything and I feel sick!” I fake sobbed, “I need a doctor… p, please, take me to a doctor…”  
Matt nodded empathetically, “Okay, okay we’ll take you to a Doctor Vik. But first, you need to tell me what happened.”  
Ugh, another round of twenty questions? No thanks.  
“I, I don’t know…” I sniffed and shook my head as if bewildered, “I can’t remember anything… Its all blank! Why is it blank?!”  
He moved to place a hand on my shoulder when Jeremey of all people, stopped him. “Don’t,” He warned, “She freaked out when I tried to touch her.”  
The boys shared a look of understanding.  
“What happened when she got here?” He asked instead.  
Jer shrugged, “I heard her yelling in the middle of the road and rushed out to help her. But she didn’t recognize me, kept telling me to call for an ambulance and stuff.” He frowned at Matt, “She was really freaked out.”  
“Okay,” Matt nodded like that explained everything and turned back to me. “I’m going to take you home, okay Vik? Let’s go home and you can sleep it off.”  
“NO!” I cried and jumped dramatically to my feet, “Take me to the hospital NOW!!!”  
Two identical looks of shock swept across their faces and I heard their hearts skip a beat.  
Unfortunately, the rumbling sound of another car chose that moment to appear around the corner. I huffed angrily, that had to be Stefan and Elena making their grand entrance.  
Figures.  
Now the race was on!  
I latched on to Matt’s shoulder and stared into his eyes, “Please, take me to the hospital.”  
It took a second for him to respond but when he did, he nodded an ‘Okay’ and let me lead him back to his truck. We had just reached the passenger door when the doppelgangers pulled up opposite the car and jumped out.  
“What’s going on here?” Elena asked, striding over.  
Jeremey intercepted her while I climbed into the passenger seat and Matt moved around to the other side. Not wasting a second, I pulled on my seatbelt and leant over to push open the driver’s door.  
Matt climbed in and shut the door just as Jeremey finished his rambling and raced towards the truck.  
“Hey!” He called, “Wait for me!”  
Alarm bells were screeching in my head as Stefan reached a stunned Elena and locked eyes with me. Quickly, I dipped my head and yelled, “Go! Go! Go!”  
Matt fired up the engine, Jeremy dove into the back seat and we took off like a rocket.  
I had done it! The plot was changed, Stefan wasn’t whisking me away and I was heading toward a hospital full of juicy blood bags.  
Suck on that mysterious force!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a Comment and Kudos if you enjoyed it xx


	3. Operation: Transition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Few! I finally finished the next chapter!!! Sorry it took so long, my muse was busy getting other stories of the ground :( Thank you to everyone for following this story ;P All of your comments make my day xx
> 
> Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!!!

I had spoken too soon.  
We had barely made it halfway down Maple Street before the mysterious force decided to put a stop to my ‘defying the plot’ shenanigans by stopping us in our tracks.  
‘How?’ You ask.  
Well, out of nowhere, Matt’s truck started to jolt and splutter uncontrollably. Grey smoke leaked out from under the bonnet and the smell of burning diesel seeped through the ventilation system.  
I was willing to ignore the vehicle’s sudden temper tantrum in favour of pushing forward.   
Buuuuuut NOPE!!!  
Matty and Jer-bear insisted we pull over to investigate… just in time for the engine to literally go up in flames.  
“Haaah, you’ve got to be kidding me…” I muttered as tweedled dee and tweedled dumb dragged my ass out of the passenger seat and dumped me on the curb.  
While I took my time to curl up into a ball and sulk at my bad fortune, Zach Roerig and Steven McQueen (Sorry, Matt and Jeremey) busied themselves with running around like headless chickens and squawking at the billowing clouds of black smoke rising from the engine like a beacon, unhelpfully signalling our position to all.  
Not that any locals came to our aid, mind you.  
The entire neighbourhood was deserted!  
Not a single barking dog, hissing cat or nosy neighbour could be found in a five-mile radius. It was as if the token human and the destined-to-be-Hunter and I were the only living beings left alive in Mystic Falls…  
Suspicious?  
I certainly thought so.  
But then again, perhaps my highly realistic lucid dream didn’t operate by real-world logic like I’d assumed and instead abided by its own, unique set of rules that I’d subconsciously made up to torture myself…  
(God, I hoped not!)  
“BOOM!”   
Matt’s car engine exploded into a fiery ball of melted pipes and red sparks.  
“MY TRUCK!” He cried, hands clutching his head in shock.  
YIKES! The repair bills for that thing were going to cost the guy hundreds, maybe thousands!  
Anyway, Jeremey kept looking back and forth between me and his friend in obvious conflict. On the one hand, he wanted to support his childhood friend, Matty. While on the other, he needed to comfort and console his amnesiac, sort-of-girlfriend Victoria in order to prove his love for her while she didn’t remember Tyler (Her actual boyfriend)  
If I was the real Vicki, I would probably have been rather flattered.  
Too bad for him, I actually had a shred of self-respect! Plus, my mind was far too busy wallowing in self-pity at my second thwarted plan of the day to take much notice of his selfish dilemma.  
Because seriously, WHAT was I meant to do now?!  
The ambulance was a no show, the car had gone up in smoke and there was no one driving on the road who I could flag down and ask for a ride.  
Sure, I could always use my back up plan and walk myself to the oh-so-elusive Hospital but going by my track record, I’d most likely end up walking in circles and arrive right back where I started!  
Which. Could. Not. Happen.  
EVER!!!  
Gilbert’s House was the path to Hell paved with good intentions. There was no way I was going to step a toe past their door even if it was the last place left on earth!  
“At least the Doppelgangers aren’t here,” I sighed, “That would have been a disaster.”  
“HEY! What’s going on? Are you all okay!?” Stefan’s voice called.  
I just had to go and jinx it, didn’t I?  
Mental note to self: NEVER TEMPT FATE OR YE SHALL SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!!!  
Internally grumbling up a storm, I turned Vik’s head to see The Stefan Salvatore and The Elena Gilbert appearing over the horizon like angels descending from heaven, metaphorical wings and halos included.  
And I’ll admit, up until this point, I had been doing my darndest to ignore the youngest Salvatore, least we make proper eye contact and he kicks of the series of events that leads to the oldest Donovan’s downfall.  
But Elena?  
I hadn’t been intentionally ignoring her at all. She just, kinda… didn’t feature on my radar, I guess?  
Until she stepped into my line of sight and my jaw dropped.  
“Woah,” I gasped, completely caught off guard.  
Elena was… just… DROP DEAD GORGEOUS!!!   
SERIOUSLY, I hadn’t thought someone so beautiful and perfect could even exist on the mortal plane. Yet, there Elena Gilbert stood, a.k.a. THE PRETTIEST PERSON YOU WILL EVER SEE!!!  
And it wasn’t just her chocolate doe eyes that pulled you in like a siren’s song or her flowing brown hair that caused the light to surround her being like a godly aura that convinced me. Nor was it her flawless olive skin with not a single pimple, mole, scar or wrinkle in sight.  
Oh no, it was the fact that her very presence stole my breath away.  
SERIOUSLY! If Damon Salvatore was the Greek god of good looks, then Amara’s doppelganger was freaking Aphrodite!!!  
HOW had I missed that after houuuurs if watching her on screen?!  
Her casual clothing and awkward running weren’t nearly enough to dull her allure either, she was simply too much of a supernatural beacon not to notice.   
You would have to be blind, deaf, mute, and dead to avoid being drawn into her light.  
Even then, that might not be enough… God only knows how many people were drawn to her from The Other side (That insane bitch, Qetsiyah, being the most prominent)  
I audibly gulped as she reached the group and embraced Jeremey in a hug.  
“Oh boy…” Simply standing one metre away was causing my bloodlust to go CraZy!?!  
All I had to do was pounce, sink my fangs into her neck and her blood would be cascading down my throat like the waterfall of eternal youth.  
“…”  
Holy. Heck.  
What was wrong with me!?  
Those were the thoughts of a rabid animal, not the sane, rational, human thoughts I should be having, damn it!  
But… Her Doppelganger scent combined with Jeremey’s…. It was like a mouth-watering feast to my starved vampire stomach! Just one bite and that heavenly blessed ambrosia would be running through my veins… It would be mine! Mine! MINE!!!  
NO! Bad Vicki! BAD!!! Think good thoughts, GOOD THOUGHTS!  
Oh, but how I wanted their blood to be mine… I wanted it sooooooooo BADLY!!!   
“Vicki!” Stefan’s hand gripped on my shoulder, “Step back.”  
Blinking once, twice, thrice, my mind slowly sank back into my body and the world came back into focus. Somehow, without my knowledge, Vicki’s body had moved from its crouch by the curb to standing just centimetres behind the two siblings’ backs.  
“Oh my god…” I whispered, shaken to the core.  
I had quite unwittingly been about to blow my cover, loose control and feed in the middle of the day like a suicidal idiot!  
There was no other option then, I needed to run.  
‘Where?’ You ask (Breaking the fourth wall for the second time, btw)  
WHO CARES!!!  
Anywhere was better than staying around three living blood bags and one judgey corpse. Besides, that rapidly growing fire consuming Matt’s truck could quite literally, burn my transitioning body to ashes.  
What other excuse did I need to high tail it down the road towards the Hospital?  
None, that’s what.  
So, without further ado, I punched Saint Stefan square in the face (As a distraction, duh!) turned on my heel and ran down the road as fast as Vicki’s uncoordinated legs could carry me.  
My developing super-hearing picked up shouts of, “Somebody, stop her!” and, “Vicki, come back!”  
But with the wind at my back and freedom at my front, I ducked into the bushes and was racing through the forest before you could say, "Asta la vista baby!"  
Now, I know what you’re thinking, ‘Why did you choose to duck into the forest and not continue running down the road?’   
Well, my dear friends, between Stefan’s vamping abilities and my lack of a Mystic Falls Map, who do you think was going to reach the Hospital first, hm? Considering my first disastrous attempt to avoid Gilbert’s House, I’d much rather take my chances in a place WITHOUT un-ending roads and cul-de-sacs, thank you very much!  
And so, I ran and Ran and RAN until Vik’s annoyingly long legs took me straight to the old Mystic Falls Cemetery… where the next scene was to take place…  
“AAAAAAAAARGH!” I screamed, “I’M FUCKIN SICK OF THIS SHIT!!!”  
Why was it that every time I attempted to change the plot my actions ended up leading me down the path Original Vicki had trodden, if only for wildly different reasons.  
I was trying my best to save the girl, not ruin her life in new and interesting ways!  
So, why oh, WHY! Was the world fighting against me?!  
NOTHING IN THS DREAM MADE SENSE!!!  
The Salvatore Crypt had the audacity to chuckle at my misery.  
“Okay, fine!” I spat, stomping my foot and balling my fists like a toddler, “If you want Vicki to die so badly then just do it already! I won’t stop you!!!”  
The leaves in the trees rustled and the iron doors to the Salvatore’s Family Tomb swung open with an almighty, ‘SCREEEEEECH!’  
I folded my arms and huffed.  
Typical.   
With a curse on the tip of my tongue, I begrudgingly dragged Vik’s bare feet across the dirt and stepped inside the crypt. I had barely taken two steps inside when the heavy painted doors slammed themselves shut and the shadows darkened, forcing out the sunshine.  
“Because that’s not creepy,” I said, half expecting an ominous figure to materialise out of thin air.  
Obviously (Or not obviously? This was the Vampire Diaries after all) nobody appeared and Vicki’s animated corpse was left in silence.   
Finally! Sweet, sweet Darkness.  
Pulling off my lucky sunglasses, I plopped my starving ass down on the only stone bench in the room and ran my hands through Vicki’s caramel brown hair. Why headache still pounded, my boy still hurt and my canine teeth now ached but I was alone and surrounded by darkness.   
What more could a half-dead/ half-alive girl need?  
Not a full bag of human blood or directions to a Hospital, noooooo. That was too much generosity on the universe's part.  
Naaah, what I really needed was to be isolated in a cemetery while the newbie hunter, Logan Fell and the ‘I’m too good for you’ one hundred and forty-five-year-old vampire, Stefan Salvatore tracked my sorry butt down…  
Out of nowhere, a wave of despair and sadness washed through me and tears began to pool in my eyes. “No!” I growled, swiping them away angrily, “You will not cry!”  
A stubborn tear trickled down my cheek and a loud sob escaped my lips. I felt like my insides were being crushed and there was nothing I could do push away the pain.   
‘You failed,’ My traitorous thoughts sang, ‘You’re a failure! A big fat loser!!!’  
“N, no…” I sobbed, opening the flood gates of grief and frustration. They poured out like salty waterfalls, soaking my singlet, clinging to my hair and turning the snotty tap in my nose to full blast.   
‘You’re never going to save her!’ They continued, ‘You’re helpless! Nothing but a burden!!!’  
“Shut up!” I cried, covering my ears and shaking my head in the vain they would go away.  
They didn’t and I continued to cry my little heart out right there, amongst the Salvatores' ancestors and murder victims.  
‘You’re pathetic, Christina! You stole Vicki’s life from her and now you're ruining it!’  
“No, I’m not!” I plead, “I’m trying to save her, I swear!”   
‘Liar, liar, pants on fire!’ They taunted.   
We continued to argue back and forth, my subconscious and I, until my fangs pushed through my gums and my eyes glowed red (From crying or hunger, I wasn’t sure)  
‘Poor little Chrissy, always the first one to break.’  
“That’s ENOUGH!” I snapped and slapped myself hard across the face.  
It didn’t sting like I’d hoped, as the vampire magic was nearly in full swing, but it did quieten down the voices long enough for me to jump to my feet and scolded myself.   
“Vicki is still in transition; you haven’t failed yet!” I said, “The sun is still up which means you’ve still got some time left before Stefan and Logan show up. So, don’t just stand around doing nothing when you have a perfect opportunity to take Emily Bennett’s Grimoire!”  
I was right, of course.  
Emily’s spellbook was just outside, buried with Giuseppe Salvatore and there was no one around to stop me from digging it up, “borrowing” the daylight spell and burying it again.  
The only thing stopping me was myself and I was DONE standing in my own way!  
Jumping to my feet, I brushed the dirt and stone off my skinny jeans, tucked my hair behind my ears and pulled the Crypt’s doors wide open… only to discover that night had fallen and the moon was high in the sky???  
I stepped out of the tomb and into the little clearing, getting a good look at all the cracked and crumbling headstones and rusting iron fence. Some were illuminated by the faint glow of the silver moon while others were hidden away in the inky shadows.  
“Ahhh, what the hell?!” I said, gobsmacked.  
“Vicki?” Stefan called out in the distance.  
Oh, you had GOT to be KIDDING ME!!!  
I’d finally pulled my act together in order to do something productive and beneficial for the plot and then some asshole God goes and speeds up the time, stealing away several much-needed hours.  
How could things possibly get worse than this?!  
“Vicki?” the ripper called again and emerged from the shadows like a creepy stalker. His eyes scanned my unharmed body before raising his hands in the universal sign of surrender.   
“I’m not going to hurt you,” He soothed, approaching me like one would a wounded animal.  
That was the second time today someone hadn’t treated Vicki like a human being and I was sick of it! Yeah, I was preparing to make a break for it but he didn’t need to treat me like I was. Didn’t he know that only made me want to run away even more?  
“It’s me, Stefan,” He said, taking a step into the clearing, “I’m here to help you.”  
HA! Yeah right.  
He was here to convince me to effectively commit suicide so the town didn’t have to deal with one more vampire running around.   
That wasn’t helping Vicki, that was doing the opposite!  
“S, stay away!” I shouted, pretending to be the scared and confused amnesiac, “Come any closer and I’ll s, scream!”   
The bloodsucker stopped his approach but continued to eye me like a skitzy jackalope.  
In the show, original Vicki had been starting to regain all her compelled memories, remembering about Damon’s attack, the rooftop, what he is, what he said and all that jazz.   
But I was pretending to have no memories whatsoever, meaning the original dialogue was out the window. Instead, I’d have to come up with a way to stall Steffy until scum-fell shot him, giving me one final chance to complete Operation: Transition.  
Hmmm… what to say, what to say…  
“Who are you?” I stuttered, deciding to go for the tried and true line of questioning of ‘Who, What, When, Where and Why. “Why are you following me? What’s going on!?”  
“I’m so sorry,” He said, taking a few steps forward, “Damon had no right to do this to you.”  
What kind of answer was that? I could eat a bowl of alphabet soup and poop out a better sentence than that! ‘I’m here to help you’, MY ASS!!!  
“What do you mean? W, what did he do to me?!” I asked, pretending to tremble under the weight of his revelation.   
(Quite effectively, might I add)  
Stef was clearly confused as to how I hadn’t regained my memories yet and I could see him warring with himself on what NOT to tell me like the defender of truth he pretended to be.  
Eventually, he went with, “You’re in transition, Vicki… You’ll need to feed in order to complete the process.” Completely bypassing my initial question!   
And people called him the good brother out of the two? HA! Judging by how this experience was panning out, I’d rather trust Damon ‘the bad brother’. At least he had had the common decency to not beat around the push like widdle ol’ Salvatore.  
I cranked out a decently confused, “Transitioning into what???” and watched as his face dropped. He clearly didn’t want to answer that question.  
Luckily for him, he was saved from answering when a resounding ‘BANG!’ filled the clearing.   
I watched in wonder as dark red blood began to pour out of the little hole in his stomach, splashing all over his shoes and staining his blue shirt black. The self-righteous vamp dropped to his knees, a look of utter shock crossing his face before he fell flat on his back.   
Logan Fell, my knight in shining armour, wasted no time pushing my “totally speechless” self aside and knelt down next to Stefan, pressing on the open wound with his fist and wracking his eyes up and down his quacking body with satisfaction.  
To be honest, if I wasn’t busy waiting for Damon to arrive, I’d have been disgusted with the amount of pleasure he was getting out of this… scum-fell, indeed.  
The one-time vampire hunter took a deep breath, raised the fist with a moulding wooden stake in it and moved to slam it through the one-hundred-and-sixty-two-year old’s chest.  
Everything next happened incredibly fast (One could even say, supernaturally fast)  
I cried out a convincingly desperate, “NO!”   
Damon appeared with a ‘Whoosh!’ and a ‘Grrr!’  
Logan’s neck was torn open and the wooden bullet was fished out of Stefan’s chest.  
“ARHHH!” the younger vamp cried, cringing away from his brother’s grip.   
For his part, Damon gave the bloody bullet a quick once over before declaring, “Its wood.”  
Well DUH!  
What other types of bullets could incapacitate a vampire so well, genius!?  
ANYWAY! While the brothers were busy regurgitating the script, I snuck over to the still bleeding founding family member and knelt down next to his head.   
Up close and personal like this, I noticed how scum bucket was wearing a light layer of foundation and toner on his face. Turns out the dude was just stuck-up enough to wear make-up on a Vampire. Hunt.   
Need I say anything else?  
My ears picked up Damon saying, “My ring.” And I decided, enough was enough.  
It was time to finish Operation: Transition!  
Bending down on my hands and knees, I lowered my nose to Fell’s bite and took a deep sniff. His blood didn’t smell nearly as good as Jeremey’s and Elena’s but it was still mouth-watering, none the less.  
My veins beneath my eyes tingled, my canine’s lengthened into fangs and Vicki’s lips pressed themselves against the wound. Ever so carefully, I sunk my teeth into the wound and sucked as hard as I could in order to draw out Every. Last. Drop.  
Blood, tangy and rusty spilled across my tongue and I revealed in the feel of it sliding down my throat, straight to the black hole in my stomach that would not stop aching.  
I got about four or five mouthfuls of Logan Fell’s blood before he came up dry and I was forced to come up for air.  
“Ahhh…” I sighed, as sheer relief washed through me.  
I’d done it.  
I. HAD. DONE. IT.  
Operation: Transition was officially COMPLETE!!!  
“Haaa… haha… hahaHaHAHAHA!!!!” My manic laugh echoed across the clearing, bouncing off trees and ricocheting of tombstones.  
The whole world was witness to my victory cry!   
“Take that, Julie Plec!” I grinned and licked away the excess blood on my lips. Despite push back after push back, I’d done what I had started out to achieve, become a Vampire safely.  
But there was more work for me to do yet!  
Using the human’s shirt to wipe my mouth clean, I brushed the dirt off my hands and set about looking for the infamous Gilbert Compass.   
It certainly helped that the world around me was now crystal clear (The perks of vampire night vision) and I spotted it lying innocently next to his pocket. Reaching over, I plucked it off the ground and shoved it safely into my back pocket before double-checking Logan was well and truly dead.  
If his no longer beating heart was any indication, he was!   
Goodbye Ripper Logan Fell!!!  
“No… Vicki, no…”   
Saint Salvatore’s rambling snapped me out of my little trance. I focused my attention on the Salvatore Brothers and was once again caught awestruck by their supernatural beauty.  
From my now Vampiric point of view, Silas’s doppelganger was even prettier. His wavy brown hair, his piercing green eyes, his chiselled jaw and smooth olive skin… It was all so perfect. Best of all, his blood on his shirt smelt rustic and sweet, while his heartbeat was nice and slow, a steady ‘Boom…boom…boom’ in my ears.  
Damon was the same; his curly black hair, twinkling ocean blue eyes and smile lines were soft and inviting. I could sense a quiet power humming through his veins and could smell the scent of his musky cologne on his skin.   
His heartbeat was just like Stefan’s sluggish and steady… I liked it!  
They both stared at the newly minted Vampire Vicki with expressions of shock and smugness.   
(To clarify: Stefan- Shock, Damon- Smug)  
“Um, sorry?” I said, “I didn’t mean to kill him, it sorta just… happened.”  
“Eh, no worries,” Ian/Damon shrugged, “It happens to the best of us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a Kudos and Bookmark if you want to read more xoxo


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